Method of making prewelt shoes



April 1, E. A. HOLMGREN 2,418,177

v METHOD OF MAKING PREWELT SHOES Original Filed Nov. 26, 1942- 2Sheets-Sheet l [maven April EA. HOLMGREN 2,418,177

METHOD OF MAKING iREWELT SHOES Original Filed Nov. 26,1942 2 Sheet-Shet2 Jizvemfor Frz'cnAHolmgren Patented Apr. 1, i947 METHOD OF MAKINGPREWELT SHOES Eric A. Holmgren, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United ShoeMachinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 5., a corporation of New JerseyOriginal application November 2.6, 1942, Serial No. 466,975. Divided andthis application October 10, 1944, Serial No. 557,999

9 Claims.

This invention relates to methods of making prewelt shoes and is hereinillustrated in its application to prewelt shoe manufacturing methodswhich obviate the use of lasts. This is a division of my copendingapplication Serial No. 466,975, filed November 26, 1942.

Prewelt shoes are usually found in the lower price brackets andmanufacturers of this type of shoe operate on a very small margin ofprofit and are constantly seeking improvements in their methods andmachines calculated to effect economies in the cost of manufacture. Oneof the major items in the cost of prewelt shoe manufacture is theinitial cost of the lasts on which the uppers are made and the continualexpense of maintaining, repairing, storing and sorting the lasts. In themanufacture of prewelt shoes, this item of expense is a much largerproportion of the total manufacturing cost than in the production ofhigher priced footwear. Thus, it will be understood that anycommercially practicable system of making prewelt shoes which obviatesthe use of the last will effect a substantial economy in themanufacturing cost if the proposed method does not involve excessivelabor or machine costs.

Objects of the present invention are to provide a commerciallypracticable method of making prewelt shoes on the last, and to provide aprewelt shoe manufacturing method whereby prewelt shoes may be producedwhich are uniformly superior in quality to prewelt shoes now found intheir price range.

With the above objects in view the present invention in one aspectthereof consists in a method of making prewelt shoes which comprisesmounting a prewelt upper on a supporting means which fills the interiorof the upper lengthwise and widthwise but does not fill the interior ofthe foreport of the upper heightwisebut leaves a sub stantial spacebetween the supporting means and the top of the upper, supporting theoutward extension of the Welt on members herein illustrated as wipersconstructed and arranged to be positioned within the welt crease,mounting a filler on said sup-porting means, and, while the upper andfiller are so supported, securing a sole to the welt and the filler. Theuse of a supporting means which does not fill the interior of the uppergreatly facilitates the mounting of the upper on the supporting meansand obviates the occurrence of girthwise strains in wiping the upper inover the margin of the form, thus eliminating the pulling and stretchingof the upper incidental to "the usual lasting operation. The illustratedsupporting means is a plate having substantially the same size andperipheral shape as an insole corresponding in size to a prewelt uppersupported on said plate. In order to prepare the upper to be supportedupon said plate the invention in another aspect thereof contemplates thepreshaping of the upper to cause the adjacent marginal portions of thewelt and upper to extend inwardly to provide a flange whereby the uppermay be supported and accurately positioned heighwise thereof on saidplate. In the preshaping operation the outer margin of the welt iscaused to project outwardly from the upper to facilitate the entry ofthe wipers into the welt crease.

In another aspect thereof the invention contemplates the employment ofupper supporting means which may be contracted longitudinally tofacilitate the mounting of an upper thereon and then expanded to alength corresponding to the size of the upper. The use of such asupporting means not only facilitates the mounting of the upper thereonbut also permits the uppers to be cut somewhat scant since the expansionof the supporting means may be employed to impart a longitudinal tensionto the upper.

In the manufacture of prewelt shoes provided with insoles and fillersthe invention. contemplates initially assembling the insole and filler,mounting said assembly on the supporting plate, and wiping the weltedmargin in over the margin of the insole and into abutting relation tothe edge face of the filler. If desired, the welted mar gin of the uppermay be cement attached to the margin of the insole in which case thelaying of the outsole on the shoe bottom may occur after the removal ofthe shoe from the supporting means, if so desired.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate the practice of the method with the aid of amachine of the type illustrated in my co pending applicationhereinbefore referred to.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is an elevation showing a prewelt upper mounted on the worksupporting means of said machine and showing also the forepart wipers intheir retracted position;

Fig. 2 is an elevation similar to Fig. 1 showing the shoe parts and thework supporting member in section through the forepart of the upper andshowing the shank wipers at an intermediate stage in their operation;

I Fig. 3 is an elevation similar to-Fig. 2 showing the shank Wipers atthe limit of their operative movement and showing an outsole cementattached to the welt;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of an alternative work supporting means with aprewelt upper mounted thereon, the upper and the work supporting membersbeing shown in section on the longitudinal median line of the upper withthe work supporting members shown in their retracted position; and

Fig. is an elevation similar to Fig. 4 with the work supporting membersshown in full and in their expanded position.

In practicing the method of the present invention a prewelt upper such,for example, as the upper I0 illustrated in the drawings is mounted onwork supporting means the marginal portion of which engages the innersurface of the inturned welted margin of the upper. The upper will havebeen prepared for attachment to a sole by preshaping its end portions tocause the adjacent margins of the welt and upper to extend inwardly andthe outward extension of the welt to project outwardly from the upper.While such preshaping of the upper may be accomplished in any knownmanner I prefer to employ for this purpose a machine such as thatdisclosed in my copending application Serial No. 466,974, filed November26, 1942. This machine is provided with means for shaping the weltedmargin at opposite ends of the upper and also with means for expandingthe toe portion of the upper to ive it substantially its final form. Theshapethus imparted to the toe portion of the upper is substantiallyretained by the box toe. The shaping of the welted margin at oppositeends of the upper causes the sole attaching face of the plate H havingtop and bottom surfaces which correspond in size and shape to an insoleprovided for the upper Ill. The thickness of the plate II, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3, is such that the plate does not fill the forepart of theupper heightwise thereof and, therefore, imparts no girthwise strainthereto. This construction of the plate greatly facilitates the mountingof the upper thereon and obviates the usual lasting strains in theoperation of wiping the welted margin in over the margin of the plate.The plate i i is mounted on an upright member l3 and rigidly held inpredetermined position thereon during mounting of the upper on saidplate.

Inasmuch as the upper is provided with a counter and in most cases alsowith a box toe no special attention need be given to the orientation ofthe upper on the work supporting plate since the counter and the box toeare respectively'complemental in shape to the end portions of the plateand will locate themselves in the proper position thereon without anyspecial effort on the part of the shoemaker.

The preshaped upper is mounted on the work supporting plate bypositioning the upper bottom upward in a longitudinally inclinedposition with the toe downward and with the ankle opening surroundingthe toe portion of the plate, then advancing the upper heelwardly untilthe toe portion of theupper is firmly in contact with the '4 toe portionof the plate and then drawing the heel end portion of the upperdownwardly to bring the entire welted margin into contact with themargin of the plate. After so mounting the upper on the work supportingplate, the machine is operated to advance a plurality of wiper platesfrom their retracted position illustrated in Fig. 1, to their positionillustrated in Fig. 2, in which the wipers have been brought intoengagement with the periphery of the upper along a line sufficientlyremote from the weltto obviate the necessity of any manipulation of thewelt to insure the ultimate entry of the wipers into the welt crease andto prevent possible engagement of a wiper, or wipers, with the outeredge face or the sole attaching face of the welt. While the wipersremain in their position illustrated in Fig, 2, the work support ismoved downwardly to cause the wipers to register with the welt crease,as shown in Fig. 3, and thereupon the wipers are further advanced tobring the welted margin in over the margin of the work supporting plateand to arrange the Welt for attachment to a sole. While the wipersremain in their advanced position, supportin the outward extension ofthe welt, a sole-usually an outsole, is cement attached to the welt. TheWiper assembly comprises a pair of forepart wipers I2 illustrated inFig. l and a pair of shank wipers l4 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, andalso a toe wiper and heel Wipers not shown in the drawings. After thesole has been cement attached to the welt the wipers are retracted andthe shoe is removed from the work supporting plate by a reversal of theprocedure above described for mounting the upper on said plate. Inaccordance with the usual practice the outsole is now permanentlysecured to the welt by a lockstitch seam and the shoe is finished in theusual manner.-

Flgs. 4 and 5 illustrate an alternative work supporting means the use ofwhich facilitates somewhat the mounting of the upper in the illustratedmachine. Referring to Fig. 4 the illustrated work supporting meanscomprises a plate It having a peripheral shape corresponding generallyto the forepart and shank portion of the shoe upper and a heel block itmounted on a slide 20 for movement toward and from the plate is by theoperation of a hand lever 22. The work supportin members It and I8 arebrought into their contracted position illustrated in Fig. 4 tofacilitate the mounting of the upper thereon and after so mounting theupper the hand lever 22 is brought'into its horizontal positionillustrated in Fig. 5 thereby expanding the work supporting members. Intheir expanded position the over-all length of the work supporting membrs I6 and I8 is the same as the length of an insole of a sizecorresponding to the size of the upper.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the present method is illustrated in its application tothe manufacture of prewelt shoes provided with insoles and fillers. Inthe manufacture of such shoes a filler 24 and an insole 26 are initiallyattached together by cement and the assembly thus provided is mountedonthe work supporting means. In the operation of the machine the weltedmargin of the upper is wiped inwardly over the margin of the insole andinto abutting relation to the edge face of the filler. If desired, thewelted margin may be cement attached to the margin of the insole inwhich case cement is applied to the margin of the insole and the innersurface of the margin of the upper prior to the overwiping operation.

While I have illustrated and described the present method as practicedwith the aid of the machines illustrated in my two copendingapplications above referred, it is to be understood that it is withinthe scope of the invention to practice the method by any suitable means.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting aprewelt upper on supporting means which fills the interior of the upperlengthwise and widthwise but does not fill the interior of the forepartof the upper heightwise, supporting the outward extension of the welt onmembers constructed and arranged to be positioned within the Weltcrease, mounting a filler on said supporting means, and while the upperand filler are so supported, securing a sole to the welt and the filler.

2. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting aprewelt upper on a form which does not fill the interior of the forepartof the upper heightwise but is provided with a marginal surfacecoextensive with the welted margin of the upper upon which surface thewelted margin is overwiped, supporting the outward extension of the welton members constructed and arranged to be positioned within the weltcrease, advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over saidform, and, while the upper is supported by said members in overwipedposition, securing a sole to the welt.

3. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises molding a preweltupper and inwardly flanging the welted margin without the aid of a last,supporting the inwardly flanged margin on a form which does not fill theinterior of the forepart of th upper heightwise but is provided with amarginal surface coextensive with the welted margin of the upper uponwhich surface the welted margin is overwiped, supporting the outwardextension of the welt on members positioned within the Welt crease,advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over said comprisesmounting a prewelt upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting meanswhich does not fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supportingmeans to tension the upper lengthwise thereof, supporting the outwardextension of the welt on members constructed and arranged to bepositioned within the welt crease, and While the upper is so supportedsecuring a sole to the welt.

7. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises assembling aninsole and a filler, shaping a prewelt upper to cause the adjacentmarginal portions of the welt and upper to extend inwardly, mounting theinsole and filler assembly on a plate having a peripheral shapesubstantially corresponding to the shape of the insole and having agirth measure at its forepart substantially less than the inside girthmeasure of the forepart of the upper, mounting the preshaped upper onsaid plate with its welted margin overlying the margin of the insole,and cement attaching said margins together,

8. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises cement attachingan insole and a filler together, shaping a prewelt upper to cause theadjacent marginal portions of the welt and upper to extend inwardly andto cause the outer margin of the welt to project outwardly from theupper, mounting said insole and filler assembly on a sole-shaped platehavin a girth measure at its forepart substantially less than the insidegirth measure of the forepart of the upper, mounting the preshaped upperon said plate with its welted margin overlying the margin of the insole,supporting the outward extension of the welt on members-constructed andarranged to be positioned within the welt crease, and, while the upperis so supported, cement attaching the welted margin of the upper to themargin of the form, and while the upper is supported by said margin on aform which does not fill the interior of the forepart of the upperheightwise but has a work supporting surface corresponding in size andshape to an insole of the same size as the upper, supporting a filler onthe work supporting surface of said form, supporting the outwardextension of the welt on members positioned within the welt crease,advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over said form andinto abutting relation to said filler and, while the upper is sosupported, securing a sole to the welt.

5. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting aprewelt upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting means which doesnot fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supporting means totension the upper lengthwise thereof, then supporting the outwardinsole, and cement attaching an outsole to the welt.

9. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises shaping a preweltupper to cause the adjacent margins of the welt and upper toextendinwardly and to cause the outer margin of the welt to project outwardly,mounting the upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting means whichdoes not fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supporting meansto an over-all length corresponding to the length of an insole of thesame siz as the upper, supporting the outward extension of the welt, andsecuring a sole thereto. g

ERIC A. ,HOLMGREN.

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UNITED STATES PATENTS British Feb.. 10, 19 10

